


A neck on the line

by Keenir



Category: Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Movies)
Genre: 'norse religion' only so far as it mentions Ivaldi as Asgard's enemy, F/M, Foreshadowing, Gen, Hilda also appears in Thor II, Loki's POV, Lorelei yanks off the friendship bandaid, Parallels, Sif quotes Star Wars, Sif's POV, can't blame Odin for this one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-22
Packaged: 2019-02-17 07:53:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 4,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13072488
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keenir/pseuds/Keenir
Summary: The journey from being enemies, to being friends and then probably enemies again, to friends...and in love.  No matter how much they may try to rationalize away their feelings as being of the "oh I've just never had such a good friend before" type.  :)





	1. Prologue is Past

**Author's Note:**

  * For [silverducks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/silverducks/gifts).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Journey back to a time when neither of them cared for the other or who the other one kept the company of.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You asked for Sif and Loki starting out hating each other, and then finding they actually _liked_ one another (and how shocked they were). Here goes...

**LOCATION: Throne room of Ivaldicroft, the foremost place in the domain of Ivaldi, dwarf lord of all dwarves, subject of Hymir:**

"Have you come to pry these prizes from me?" Ivaldi demanded to know.

 _They were roaming the wilderness as I was hunting them, and no doubt they wouldn't have cared whether they punished you for your defiance of their father Odin or captured me thinking it would sway my lord who is your master._ "I've come to watch, noble Ivaldi," Sif said. "They are your trespassers, after all, rightly caught so you may unleash justice. Soon, there will be fewer of Odin's fry littering the cosmos."

"Then you want...?" Ivaldi asked civilly.

"Whatever you don't use. Target practice."

Ivaldi nodded. "Far better with bodies, I agree. Take the remains with my blessing, soldier of Hymir." Turning his attention back to the Odinsons, "Now, for the both of you," raising his axe.

"Question," Sif said.

Axe paused. "Yes?"

"When delivering the final strike, isn't it better to hold their head in your hand as their blood warms your palm? Or... perhaps I misunderstood a lesson."

There were sharp looks exchanged by many. Thor whispered to Loki, "She really _doe_ hate us, doesn't she?"

"No, no, you are correct," Ivaldi told Sif. "That <em>is</em> the best way, the way I aspire to."

"And that is sufficient to punish trespassers?" Sif asked.

Ivaldi laughed a laugh that echoed through the tunnels. "Quite sufficient. Beyond that is excess."

"Excess is bad?"

"Very. My rivals savored excess -- I destroyed them. I do not do as they did."

 _Such as take the knee towards Asgard._ "Thank you, Lord Ivaldi," Sif said.

A nod. "I always have time for students of the finer things." To the Odinsons, "Now, about those heads -" and was about to slice his axe through, when -

"May I too ask?" Loki asked.

Again the axe paused. Amused, "What could you ask? Try," Ivaldi granted.

"Where does my head end?"

"Where my axe says it does," Ivaldi answered, to much agreeing laughter all around.

"I ask not for my own sake, but for yours," Loki said, which silenced the laughs. "My head is yours, I'll not argue that -"

"Wise."

"- but if you took my neck with it, would that not be excess? Or would it be an abrogation of your promise to that soldier of Hymir?"

Thor picked it up: "And who values an ally who breaks their word so casually? Of course -"

_What are you doing, adding things, Brother?_

"-you could kill all three of us," Thor concluded.

Sif held perfectly still. _If I tighten my grip on my glaive, that will be interpreted as proof of conspiracy and warrant my death, even if the tightening was from anger at the Odinsons._

"He could," Loki said, agreeing with Thor. "But all of Lord Ivaldi's men have memories, which he would have to deal with as well."

Ivaldi sheathed his axe, growling a growl that matured into a laugh. "You Odinsons may navigate worse than waterlogs, but your logic is sound. Go."

"Go?" Thor repeated as the dwarves backed away into the depths.

"Your heads will keep. When they come off, I will have them."

"You sound confident."

"I have reasons to be so," Ivaldi told them. To his fellow dwarves, "By my command, none will touch or interfere with them as they leave my domain. Sif, the daughter of my Lord Hymir, shall escort them away from here."

* * *

As they stepped out from the man-sized burrow out onto the flat ground, a stony shadow fell upon them. "Boo!" she said.

"And who might you be?" Loki asked.

"I'm Hilda. Are you guests - going to be our guests? Guests always have something."

Thor patted his pockets and was about to apologize that the dwarves had taken all his stuff, when -

"I do, as it happens," Loki said, doing something with his hands that produced a small flower he revealed with a flourish. "For you, young Hilda," floating it up to nestle in her hair.

Hilda gave him a bright toothy smile, all agate and marble, mumbled "Thanks you," and turned about and ran. "Sif! Sif! Look what I got!" adding that last part when she'd run around Sif a few times. "Isn't it lovely?"

"Its very pretty," Sif agreed. _Magical cheats._

"I waited for you, and I waited, like you asked me to, and I waited, and then you walked out with _them_."

Sif nodded. "We have to make a stop."

* * *

**LOCATION: Throne room of Hymir, lord of all Etins and other Subjects:**

"The night following your birth, what did that wisewoman your mother do?" Hymir asked from atop his throne.

"She left me at the entrance of your sacred glen," Sif said, "and I survived the night, proving I was worthy of the honorific 'Hymir's daughter,'" _which placed me under your authority and protection._

"Yes. Since the dawn that followed that night, you have done many things. But none of them til now have risked the loss of my protection."

"I..." _I knew I would be in trouble after that mission -- Ivaldi has ever been a blabbermouth who casts others into shadow thinking it improves his appearance. But without Hymir, I am perilously close to being a rogue, who barely avoid being outcast. Heimdall, once someone I would have been proud to call my brother, lost that protection and any fictive kinship with me by keeping close to Odin._ "How may I turn the tide of my fate, my lord?"

"Understand, Sif Jarnsaxakin, that you have saved lives; this would normally be praiseworthy. But that they were Odin's sons, places me in a bind - had Ivaldi slain them, I could truthfully blame him: an overzealous subject. But _you_ are not so distant as Ivaldi; I have and do count you as one of my finest warriors..."

Having taken enough classes in political movement, Sif knew where this was going. "Thus it looks as though I acted with your approval, if not with your blessing. And that means you recognize their existence, and thus you recognize their father's legitimacy."

"Indeed," Hymir said. "I was loyal to Odin's father and to Bor's chosen successor. But when Odin seized the throne..."

 _Aided by Heimdall, whose treachery is infamous._ "Surely there are options remaining."  <em>Aside from exile or outlaw.</em>

"There are. _Marriage_ would be an obvious one - purely for appearances' sake for the first two or four thousand years."

"Please, another choice," Sif asked.

"A loan," Hymir said, leaning forth to cast his knotted face into the light. "A test by which we see if Odin is ready to handle mature matters."

"A loan," Sif said, tasting the concept.

"You would be part of a unit to work alongside the Asgardians."

"Are - aren't they misagon- misa- barbarians?"

"You asked for options, child. There are some I have not yet named, such as sacrifice, but all of them are worse for you."

 _Sacrifice._ "What if I were to assassinate one of them?"

"Then pray escape before you are caught by Asgardians."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Recipient, if this is not to your liking, simply let me know, and I will write you a new one - no problem, no harm or foul. My pleasure. This is, after all, a gift.


	2. Frigga's POV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frigga has her own thoughts on the subject. And she's really trying not to meddle...really. Also trying not to get anyone killed.

**LOCATION: Throne room of Odin, King of Asgard, lord of all Asgardians and other Subjects:**

With a genuine smile, I say, "Welcome to Asgard. I am Frigga, queen of this realm. And this is my husband's niece Lorelei," standing beside me in her favorite green gown. "A more formal introduction will have to wait, I'm afraid - my sons are having a medical checkup, and my husband is Asleep."

"That will be fine, Queen Frigga. I am Sif, this is Hilda -"

An eager and excitable "Hi!" said the young giant composed of many rocks and little boulders; an old-fashioned Etin, I see. "You have pretty hair, both of you."

"Thank you," I say.

"I like you," Lorelei tells Hilda.

"And," Sif says, "this is Beta Ray Bill."

"A Korbonite?"

"I am," Bill says. "Like my father before me, and his father before him."

Knowing where Lorelei's mind is about to venture, I cut it off by saying, "I realize the three of you are on loan, but please, consider yourself under the hospitality," and thus the protection, "of Asgard."

Sif says, "That won't be necessary, your Highness."

"I insist."

"No, you misunderstand," she says, unsheathing her blades.

I narrow my eyes. Ah youth.

"I won't need it!" Sif declares, charging at me.

Lorelei shouts "STOP!" and succeeds only in paralyzing the Korbonite, who falls over.

"You dare?!" Hilda bellows at & barrels towards Lorelei.

Only one thing for me to do.

* * *

**LOCATION: Frigga's Fountainyard:**

In her own land, she was mighty, accomplished with many deeds to her name. Here she is 'with' and 'of' - a state I knew so well when I came here from Vanaheim for the sake of peace, and for years afterwards.

And Asgard is harder on women warriors than the other realms are.

Though I do not doubt Sif will build a new tower of accomplishments.

And Loki arrives with an outburst "She could have killed you, Mother!"

"If she could have, she would have," I point out. "She didn't, and I am fine."

"This cannot go unanswered!"

"I already placed the young lady in a prison cell to cool off, Loki. That will suffice."

"She tried -"

I rarely need to use my Iron voice, but this is the time for it: "I am well aware of what she tried to do, my son. It was my job as well, once," and I see Loki's face react to that. "I know it is not spoken of much, but your father did not marry me purely for my singing voice. Against your intruder, I was never helpless," and whatever I say next, I shall say in normal tones.

"But you are the Queen of Asgard and -"

"Am I?"

"Yes."

"Then I ask you not to naysay my judgements," I say.

Loki bows. "Yes, Mother."

"In fact, I believe the two of you will get along splendidly in the future."

"Is that a command?"

"No, only my opinion. Though I do advise, my son, to go talk with her. And if you still do not fully trust her, do not leave her side - accompany her and her friends wherever they may roam." And where you go, Sigyn and Thor and Fandral will go.

"I will."


	3. Lorelei

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Several centuries later, Lorlei is...unhappy with a recent turn of events. Cue the war Sif and she mentioned to Son Of Coul.

Its not fair.

Loki's hogging all Sif's time and attention. Oh he's clever about it, definately - if I accused him, he would say he was hanging out with Sif, yes, as were Thor and Beta Ray Bill and Modi and all the others.

But Sif likes me. I'm her apprentice, like Hilda. She told me I'm one of her finest pupils. Her and me and Hilda were going to be The Universe's Greatest Defenders, toppling injustice and doing whats right, the thre of us.

I just need to think of a way to get Sif's attention. And a way to get Loki to stop flirting with her whether she knows it or not.

And I'm not going to give up until I find a way that succeeds.

　


	4. Left

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As the dust from that war settles, Sif and Loki are far apart...and thinking about and trying not to think about how they feel about that.

**SIF'S POV** :

No doubt there are eyes watching me and nicthounds shadowing me. Only a fool would do otherwise - a fool or a generous-minded one. And Ivaldi has never been a fool, and recent events will not have endeared me to him, not when Lorelei was on the verge of invading and destabilizing his neighbor Nodens - an opportunity Ivaldi would have relished greatly.

But I will not turn from the course I have set myself. Beta Ray Bill deserves better than I have given him thus far. A Korbonite so far removed in ethics and valor from those first creatures in service to their Dark Elf masters.

Bill, the finest friend, the keenest blade, the bravest soul, and the sturdiest shield any could ever wish to know. And ever did he try to improve, in humour and lyrics and somewhat painful wooing in recent years...and never gave up, sparring alongside Thor and studying with Loki. Or did they study and plot? I already knew of Bill as Haldor; but something about some of those messages to me...

I dodged so very mortal a blow. Had it been Loki behind the Haldor messages, and had I pursued him into a relationship, then it would be Loki's body I would be carrying now...

Assuming Loki's fit little scrawny lithe corpse proved as durable as Bill's. If he hadn't, I would be Sif, who led a prince to death at best; easily cast into banishment or imprisonment alongside Lorelei.

A hot wind attempts to blow me over; my skin toughens in response, and I continue making my way towards Ivaldi's favorite croft.

The ground grows warmer from forges' heat -- in this, dwarves are the furthest from subtle. My shoes flue themselves to quicker be rid of heat.

"I have crossed this far unchallenged," I say.

"Thank my curiosity," Ivaldi says. "You have no protectors or garanteors, yet you return to this centerpoint of my domain. I will know the Why before I dictate your fate."

"I have come to hire you, Lord Ivaldi. In this bag I carry a dear comrade of mine, wounded gravely, and I have come to have him returned."

"From death, no. From maimed, I have yet to hear an offered payment, as no longer can you call upon Hymir's wealth.

"Of all the things I know you crave, there is one which only I can confer."

"Do tell," Ivaldi bids me.

So I do: "I offer the full matter of Loki's neck." _Loki would not mind, surely - Bill was his best friend too. And the challenge of sliding out of a new predicament - with or without me there to help him this time? Relish, I have no doubt._

"Is that so? No quibbling over where my blade may stray?"

"Not if you do this job well," with how I know his response:

"Of course it shall be so. I take no pride nor pay in shoddy work. Done, you have a deal, Sif. Now leave me to this work."

* * *

**LOKI'S POV:**

It feels...strange.

I am aware that Sif has taken Bill to a healer she trusts more than Eir, and that she - Sif - will be back as swiftly as she can, and that Bill will rejoin us as soon as he is able.

And yet.

I feel bereft, as though I have lost my better arm or leg or, like my father before me, the eye through which everything becomes clear.

So recently ago, I had railed against and fumed at and tormented them both. And now I want them back. I want back what we had.

Military practices on the grounds, studies in the library, adventures throughout.

When Bill approached me to help him write a new sort of letter, I agreed - he was by then a friend, he was in need, and as ever I relished a challenge. I helped him write in return for Elf tales passed down through the generations of his family. And that it was Sif receiving... I may have briefly wavered, but I never backed out of what I had sworn to help Bill with.

When had it passed from a challenge to... to...

Irony. Normally it would be Bill I would talk to about problematic problems of which this is a fine fettle of an example -- there are some things one hopes to never need to ask their mother. Amora would laugh. Sigyn is too reclusive to ask anymore. Lorelei is rightfully imprisoned. And for some reason, ever since that incident with the musk ox, Magni only hangs out with Thor. I don't even have Sif to talk to and hear her annoying musical snort of a shining laugh.

Maybe I should go spar anyway. Try to clear my mind. Trust they both return in good time. After all, as Father reminds us, friendships are the vital root of all greatness, without which no man can stay sane.


	5. Betrayal II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Each so focused, that neither sees the possibilities they could have enjoyed during Thor. We could have had peace in our time.

**LOKI'S POV:**

I miss my friends.

I miss those of my friends who were more Thor's pals than mine - Fandral, Modi, Metis.

I miss my good friends - Beta Ray Bill, Sigyn, Lorelei, and Freyr. Time and circumstance have not been kind to us particularly.

I even miss - I particularly miss? - Sif, who by all appearances is returning to the state of affairs when we first met: enemy. Only what I am witnessing before me now, she is not counting Thor as one any longer.

I would send you, Sif, to go see how our mutual pal Bill fares... Only I fear you would abuse the opportunity and venture to Midgard instead.

Thor defies Father, and everyone is angry at me for a detail I am not responsible for.

<hr>

**SIF'S POV:**

We have to recover Thor. We have to! As it is, things are unbalanced. I don't trust it - I trust Loki. I don't trust events, I don't trust things.

I barely trust how I may react in this new imbalance.

Return! Return to what was so recent, that hard-won new balance after Haldor - Beta Ray Bill's forced absence disrupted so much.

And now this new tumult! Not so bad if Bill were still among us, be he is not. I would ask the sitting-king Loki for leave to check in on Bill, but in his present mood - and after we made a show of asking after Thor - I would not doubt Loki would think my request a misdirection aimed at recovering the warmaker.<hr>..


	6. Healing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That special scene in Thor II.

**SIF'S POV:**

Once again, a Midgardian pulls Thor away from his friends.

Now however I am more okay with that. I am more steady, which means I can begin to reach out...at least a little.

He's always understood my threats. "Betray him, and I'll kill you." Travel safely and be of much accomplishments on your journey.

**LOKI'S POV:**

I had thought Sif'd made a complete return to her old ways. I was wrong - were that true now, she would be drawing blood.

"Its good to see you, Sif." Truly.


	7. Rescue

 Sif stood in the shadows of the Grand Throne Room of Asgard, watching Thor and Odin discuss 'one son who does not desire the throne, and one son who sought it too much.'  She watched Thor Leave.  And before her eyes, Odin blurred into Loki present there once more; part of Sif rejoiced at his return...

And a part of her counciled suspicion, doubt, investigation.  Sif stepped forth, her intent to challenge this latest development - or she raised a foot to begin all that -

And beheld another change: Loki collapsed visually, a curtain of seidr sprinkling in abrupt obedience to gravity's dictates; Sif had witnessed it enough from Loki, Amora, her mother, and a few others, to recognize it for what it was.

_Frigga!  And now Frigga sits upon the throne._

Sif strode up to a meter short of the foot of the throne.  _Frigga gives no sign of being aware I witnessed all that - but then, a ruler is wise to not wear every thought on their face and their tongue._   "My Queen?" Sif asked, standing.

"Your eyes do not deceive you, Sif," Frigga said.  "Odin and I agreed this would be best."  Smiled at Sif, "When he took the throne, he knew it would be temporary; he never planned to rule anywhere near as long as his father."

"He allowed others to believe so."

"Yes.  A tactician, my husband was; admittedly not the best at immediate reactions."  Frigga's face then lost all humor.  "There is a deed to ask of you; an obligation not to me or a duty to anyone, Sif.  Accepting this will not gain you songs, medals, celebrations or feasts."

"Tell me, and it will be done," Sif said.

"You are familiar with the routes to Ivaldicroft."  It was not in any way a question.  "They of Ivaldicroft wish you to know that Beta Ray Bill's dealing and repair is complete."

"I -"

"I grant you leave to go recover him if you wish to do so," Frigga said.

* * *

When Sif had gone and the repaired Bifrost powered down, Frigga summoned Heimdall.  "Will there be a problem?"

"None, my Queen," Heimdall said.

"Then I give you leave as well - if you wish to do so, journey to Jotenheim.  See your wife."

"It has been a thousand years."

"I did not say 'hurry back.'"

"You did not," Heimdall said.  "My gratitude, my Queen."

"You were one of the few who was kind to me when I was new here," Frigga said.  "I only regret I cannot offer you more than time."

"Time shall be sufficient."

* * *

**In the throne room of Ivaldicroft, the foremost dwelling in what had been the dwarf Ivaldi's domain:**

"Enter freely, Sif the Great."

Sif walked glaive-first into Ivaldi's throne room. "You are not the dwarf I am here for."

"Of that I am aware. I am Nodens, Triumphant Among Dwarves. You are here for what Ivaldi my subject owes you. I present it to you," and with a gesture, the flat boulder between them softened into a blanket. "Your compatriot is nestled beneath, and is all yours."

She stepped forwards and, without lowering or sheathing her glaive, Sif drew back one corner of the blanket, revealing Bill was indeed there. "What befell him here?" Sif demanded of Nodens.

"Some repairs can only ever be mechanical, warrior. You sought dwarven skill, and here it is." A shrug; "The band around his jaws will dissolve once he is outside of my territory."

Before Sif could move to help Bill out of the blanket-covered depression, Nodens added, "Also, there is the other matter."

Sif paused while Bill narrowed those pupil-free eyes at Nodens. "What other matter?" she asked.

"Much has happened while you busied yourself in other realms and shifting loyalties. Ivaldi is a loyal subject of myself now, thus transferring his debts, duties, obligations, and oaths to me, for me to chose which to keep and which to discard."

"Yes, Lord Nodens," Sif said. "And what of yourself?"

"That depends, o valiant warrior. Do you still kneel, and to whom if you do?"

"This is urgent?"

"Oh yes, and count yourself honored, brave knight of two realms," Nodens said. "In the next chamber, I am pitting Loki against Ivaldi. Both have adequate reason to not lose."

"How does that concern me?" Sif asked. _Loki is alive?_ "Neither need my assistance."

"True, true," Nodens granted. "Why you help the one you help, that will decide my policy towards Asgard for the next few million years. while Odin wanders. Not _who_ , but _why_ , good Sif."

"Rather a vague pronouncement. Details?"

"Sensible as ever," Nodens said, and held out two hands, both palms upturned. "One hand, I ignore Asgard, even if it faces ruin and worse."

"Does it?" Sif asked.

"Such a leading question; I expected better from Hymir's finest. The other hand, I ally with Asgard and support her Queen."

"So gracious."

"Asgard, not Midgard," Nodens clarified.

"And how will you know my reason for chosing as I will?"

"I am Nodens the Mighty, feller of empires and bringer of bounties."

"A rote nonanswer," Sif said.

Nodens made a little gesture with his hand, and his warriors backed away from Sif. "Go and chose, wolfslayer. Tarry no longer - none will impede your path, no matter how long you take."


	8. Now Kiss!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bill is back. Loki is back. Sif is back.
> 
> Now for to make them realize the truth. Good luck, Bill, at accomplishing that.

When Sif and Bill found Loki, he was standing beside the corpse of Ivaldi, and parts of Loki were blue, with ridges and grooves in both the blue skin and the skin which was not blue.  "Behold," Loki half-mumbled when he noticed he was no longer alone with a dead dwarf.

Sif blinked.  "And?"

"And..." Loki gestured at his jotun self.

Bill cleared his throat, and pointed to his two-toed feet and un-Asgardian face.

"He has a point, Loki," Sif said.  "I'm of etin blood.  He's a Korbonite - Asgard has fought all our peoples at one point or another."

Loki just stared at them.  _Truly?  You don't want to strike me down?  I do._

"We can discuss it on our way back home."

* * *

Sif had just finished regaling them with the tale of Frigga's return...

 _Aand now we're back to them verbally dancing around one another._ Bill groaned. _"Not again.  No not again."_

"Bill?" Sif asked.

"Elves couldn't accomplish it, dwarves couldn't, nightmareians couldn't...  But you two make me want to confess."

"Confess?" Loki asked.  "Of the three of us, you have the least to plead because of."  _Perhaps because circumstances subjected us to more in your absence, but still, my point stands_.

"I did it deliberately," Bill said.

"The three of us did many 'its'," Loki jested.

"When I asked you to help me write letters to Sif."

_Oh._

_Wait._    "That explains a few things," Sif said.

Bill continued explaining: "My plan...my Lorelei-interrupted plan, had been to put less and less of myself in the letters, and then surprise you both with an announcement that you were writing to each other."

"Yyes, I was aware we were writing to Sif," Loki said.

Bill grabbed them each from the side in a one-armed hug - Loki in one arm, Sif in the other arm.  "You poured emotion from your heart, good friend.  It was far from an intellectual exercise when you composed prose for the letters."

"Ha," Sif chuckled.  _Mighty mindful Loki, with his emotions as the enthroned ones?  And here I thought that was a recent development_.

"Ah, Sif, oldest friend of mine," Bill said.  "I saw your face warm and brighten with gladness when you read those letters.   I heard the caring in your voice when you replied to them.  As long as you knew me, you knew those words weren't purely my own, and not all of what you said was spoken to me - but to the other author."

"It was centuries ago," Loki said at the same time Sif said, "Past is past."

"I'd rather not - please don't make me act human here," Bill asked of them.  _There were only three channels in that repairroom, and two of them were of Midgard._

"What?" Loki asked, trying to picture Bill in a striped uniform - _Korbonites in their natural state are already supersoldiers._

In response, Bill brought his arms nearer each other, thus placing Sif and Loki just shy of their heads slapping together.

"Bill!" both of them said.

But Bill had let go and stepped back.

And Loki and Sif were still standing there, that close.  Very close to one another.  One breathed out air that the other breathed in, back and forth. 

 _Heady,_ thought one of them.

"You meant it?" Loki asked, speaking first when he trusted his voice would not betray him.  "Genuinely meant what he said you said?"

"I don't lie," Sif snapped at him. 

"True, you misdirect as well as I do."

"And you?  Did you mean what you had him write?"

"It shocked me too," Loki admitted.

"Would you revoke or withdraw any of what you said in them?" Sif asked.

"Not a jot or a stroke.  "You, with your words?"

"Not a breath or a tone."

They stood there, well aware that Bill was grinning.  "Now what, Lady Sif?" Loki asked.

"How so?" Sif asked.

"All that has happened between us since then?"

Bill was considering facepalming, even with his long face.  "If intervening events had changed your minds, you'd have taken back what you wrote and said back then."

"I was speaking purely of back then," Sif said, "but you are correct, Bill, that even with more current events, I would not revoke a thing.  I...simply had to come to terms with my feelings."

"And I as well, in both back-then and of late," Loki said.

 _Then its a miracle this didn't take another few thousand years to get to this point,_ Bill mused. _Not even Stormbreaker and Mjolnir could crack you two._   "What now?"

Sif and Loki looked at each other, and cracked smiles.  "In a hurry, are we?"

"Just a bit," Bill admitted.  "I have been looking forwards to this for more than a little while."

She and Loki wrapping each other in a kissless hug, Sif said, "We shall move at our own pace."

"That much has been obvious.  And good, now we can get back to adventuring, unless -"

"Loki?" Sif asked, pulling back some, but not letting go. 

"Yes, Sif?" Loki asked.

"Marry me."  Not a question, not a command - a request.

"Gladly and as promptly as I can."

"I'm a witness!" Bill volunteered.  "Though this wasn't what I was going to say."

"Its not?"

"I'm not revoking what I just said," Sif stated.

"Nor am I," Loki said.

"Yes!" Bill said with a fistpump.  "Asgard's next king and queen!"

Loki looked at Bill.  "Um, my friend, there have been some developments you missed.  My father, it turns out, was Laufey, high king of Jotunheim."

Bill waved that off.  "Your father was Heimdall, son of Odin, son of Bor the Terrible."

"Who told you that?"

"Once I figured out the coding language, it was easy for me to access the dwarves' archives, and from there, pretty much everyone else's in the realms.  That and Heimdall told me."

Loki paused, looking from Bill to Sif and holding his gaze there.

All Sif said was, "Yet another reason for me to be glad Heimdall was never my biological kin, and has not been my fictive kin for a thousand years," and drew Loki back close to her.  She then whispered in his ear, "And even if that is true or not true, we have a great deal of time for us to meet all of both our families."

Loki nodded, his head against hers.  And he said something he had omitted from the Haldor letters and all the time since: "I love you."

Sif said, "I know."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're thinking "where have I heard that before?"...I freely admit to influence from [the Sifki theory page](http://swordhandandsilvertongue.tumblr.com/post/79467584633/metalshell-lexiewrites-metalshell). What, I'm the only one who calls it that? *shrugs* :)


End file.
